Abstract

Invited Talk - Splinter DwarfGalaxies

Tuesday, 10 September 2024, 15:40   (S24)

Instrumentation for future dwarf galaxy studies

Michael Hilker
ESO

In the era of current and future ground- and space-based photometric wide-field surveys (with VST/VISTA, DECAM, Rubin/LSST, Euclid, Roman, MESSIER, ARRAKIHS, etc.) that push the limits of luminosity and surface brightness, previously undiscovered dwarf galaxies are and will be detected in large numbers, allowing for the study of their ensemble properties in different environments. Their neutral gas content will be probed by MeerKAT, ASKAP, MWA, and, in the near future, SKA, while their molecular gas content can be studied with the upgraded ALMA. Instruments on 30-meter-class telescopes (for example, MICADO, METIS, HARMONI, ANDES, MOSAIC at the ELT, etc.) will enable us to study the physical properties of individual dwarf galaxies in great detail. For local dwarf galaxies, this includes probing resolved stellar populations at low metallicity, detecting intermediate-mass black holes in dwarf galaxy nuclei, and constraining their dark matter halo shape to address the core/cusp problem via 6D information from proper motions (MICADO) and radial velocity measurements of individual stars (MOSAIC). At very high redshift, the high spatial resolution of ELT instruments can resolve the morphology of dwarf-mass galaxies, while the collecting power of the ELT ensures the spectroscopic study of their star formation rates and stellar population properties.